Rex Ryan stole a page from the trainers across the parking lot from MetLife Stadium when he addressed the Jets on Saturday night.

Ryan, a horse racing fan, told the team about how trainers put blinkers on horses to keep their focus straight ahead.

Now, Ryan asked his players to put their own mental blinkers on. He told them to block out the noise about his own job security and that of general manager John Idzik. Forget about banner-toting planes, TV talking heads and newspaper columnists. Ignore the 40,000 Steelers fans that were going to fill MetLife Stadium. Forget about the eight-game losing streak and the fact no one thought they could slow Ben Roethlisberger down, never mind pull off the upset.

It worked.

The Jets shocked the Steelers, 20-13, to end the losing skid at eight and quiet the noise about what happens after the season for at least a couple of weeks as they head for their bye week.

It was vintage Rex Ryan, and a reminder of why the guy is still beloved by his players and why it is not a slam dunk for Woody Johnson to fire him at the end of the year. For the first time in a while in this dismal season, Ryan hit the right notes and figured out a way to lead his team to a win. He dialed up a great defensive game plan that held Roethlisberger to just one late passing touchdown after he threw 12 in the previous two weeks. But, more importantly, Ryan showed his skill as a head coach and kept his team together through an adversity-filled week.

“We love playing for him,” defensive end Leger Douzable said. “We really don’t want to play for anybody else. We’re going to fight until there are no games left on the schedule.”

Unlike last season, playing hard for Ryan down the stretch probably won’t be enough to save his job. The damage has already been done with the eight-game losing streak, the decision to stick by quarterback Geno Smith too long and the fact Ryan’s team is about to miss the playoffs for the fourth straight year.

But Sunday’s win was not about all of that. It showed the Jets have not given up on the season even when it would have been easy to have packed it in weeks ago. It allowed the Jets to breathe a sigh of relief after nearly two months of misery.

Days like Sunday remind you Ryan can be an effective head coach. While the on-field results have not been there, Ryan has kept this team together.

“Not that this win is going to catapult us into the playoffs, [but] it’s a big win for us because we’ve been working extremely hard,” Ryan said.

After hearing about the great weeks of practice the Jets have been having, the results finally showed up on a game day. The offense clicked immediately and gave the team a 17-0 lead, a rarity this season. The defense forced four turnovers after registering three in the first nine games and shut the Steelers out in the red zone.

The day was not perfect for Ryan. He picked up an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after yelling at an official late in the fourth quarter and the defense gave up an 80-yard touchdown pass with 1:16 left to play that made you wonder if the Jets could flame out. But Eric Decker recovered the onside kick and Ryan evened returned his record as Jets coach to .500 at 48-48.

Days like Sunday remind you Ryan can be an effective head coach. While the on-field results have not been there, Ryan has kept this team together. There has not been any finger pointing in the locker room during the losing streak, even as they dealt with things as crazy as last week’s plane flying over practice.

“The thing about playing in New York is it’s tough,” Pace said. “People are passionate about their football, which is a good thing. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. That being said, I’m proud that everybody stuck together. In situations like that, that’s when you get division and some guys go left, some guys go right. I really think that we got tighter as a team because of it.”

That is a tribute to Ryan.

Now, the Jets have a bye week before a trip to Buffalo to face the Bills. It is a scenario similar to last year when the Jets scored an upset win over the Saints before their bye. They then went to Buffalo and got smoked by the Bills.

Ryan was reminded of that trip Sunday evening and vowed not to make the same mistake he made last year.

“I don’t think we’re going to Dave and Buster’s, if that’s what you mean,” Ryan joked about his team’s ill-fated Saturday night outing last year.

The Jets have six games left. In horse-racing terms, they’re rounding the last turn. Ryan’s team may not win, place or show, but they showed Sunday they are still running the race.